Binance Coin is the signature coin of the Binance crypto exchange, but it’s popular among more than just Binance users. Binance Coin is the fourth most popular cryptocurrency by market cap and one of the most commonly known coins in the world. However, this coin is also one of the most controversial coins out there. If you are a crypto fan, you should know about Binance Coin.
Luckily for you, this guide will tell you everything you need to know about Binance Coin, including the current Binance Coin price, a historical analysis of this coin, and much, much more.
Binance Coin Price
As you can tell from the chart above, Binance Coin price has fluctuated over the years. The coin was virtually worthless when it was launched back in July 2017. Nearly four years later, in May 2021, Binance Coin price topped out at $690.93 per coin.
Since its peak in 2021, Binance Coin has dropped significantly in value, partly due to controversy with the coin’s founder, but we’ll cover that later. Over the past year, Binance Coin price has settled around $300.
What Is Binance Coin
Binance Coin (BNB) was launched in China in August 2017. The platform itself experienced a significant rise in popularity over the past months together with the BNB coin. Just like other cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance will match your orders to buy or sell cryptocurrencies with those of other users on its platform in exchange for the relevant fees. As the major characteristics which distinguish one exchange from another are related to the matching engine capacity, fees and the liquidity volume, Binance uses the BNB coin to make the platform more attractive for those who hold it.
Thus, the most important function of the BNB coin is to act as the fuel which powers the services the Binance exchange provides to its customers. First of all, the users on the platform can use it to pay for trading fees at various discounts. In order to be eligible for them, it is sufficient to hold BNB coins in one’s wallet with the exchange. The amount of discount is supposed to decrease over the years, ranging from 50% in the first year of the coin use, followed by 25% in the second and 12.5% in the third year. Even when the discount gets to zero in the fifth year, the coin will continue to be used as a way to manage the fee payment on the Binance platform.
Decreasing discount brings the risk of bringing down the value of the Binance coins. In order to prevent this depreciation and maintain a stable price for the BNB, its creators committed to periodically destroying (or “burning”) some of these coins in order to reduce their total supply until 50% of the total BNB supply (100 million) is burned.
As of September 2018 there are 95 million BNB in circulation. At the same time, the coin’s market capitalization stands at USD 915 million, with the historically highest value being just above USD 2 billion dollars. While Binance coin is closely related to the exchange it runs on, it is being traded on competing exchanges such as CoinSwitch, Lbank, and others.
In addition to facilitating its native network operation, the BNB coin can be used for investing in initial coin offerings (ICOs) which are part of the Binance’s Launchpad program. Upon an ICO’s end, new coins will be instantly listed on Binance to speed up the linking between the platform and ICOs. Moreover, Uplive, a mobile livestreaming platform, supports BNB to buy virtual gifts.
In April 2019, Binance launched the Binance Chain as the public blockchain which is hoped to utilize the platform’s coin to assist with the management of assets on it. Following this, Binance Coin was moved from the Ethereum blockchain to the Binance Chain.
How Does Binance Coin Work?
As we just explained Binance Coin is pretty much a typical cryptocurrency, despite being directly linked to a major crypto exchange platform. Being a typical crypto means that Binance Coin is a decentralized, digital currency that exists using blockchain technology. Originally, Binance Coin used the Ethereum blockchain network. It now uses the Binance chain blockchain, which is Binance’s own dedicated blockchain.
The managers of Binance Coin maintain the coin’s value by using 20% of their profits every quarter to “burn” (i.e. to permanently pull out of circulation) unsold Binance Coin.
Who Created Binance Coin?
Binance Coin was founded by Chinese-Canadian billionaire Changpeng Zhao, who is also the founder of Binance. Zhao actually sold Binance Coin as a way to raise capital for his brand new crypto exchange platform, Binance. Today, Binance and Binance Coin are incredibly popular, but they aren’t without controversy.
Zhao resigned from his position as Binance CEO after pleading guilty to money laundering, unlicensed money transmitting, and other charges brought against him by the US government under the Bank Secrecy Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
These incidents have put many people off using Binance or buying Binance Coin. With that being said, many investors still have confidence in Binance Coin, especially since Zhao is now out of the picture at Binance.
Binance Coin Market Performance
Six years ago, some of the most savvy crypto investors might be stumped if you asked them “What’s a Binance Coin?” Now, even the most basic crypto fans will be able to tell you what are Binance Coins and why you should or should not invest. Don’t believe us? Just take a look at the Binance Coin market cap.
Binance Coin is the fourth biggest coin in the world, according to market cap. At time of writing, the Binance Coin market cap is $47.6 billion. In 2021, Binance Coin had the third-highest market cap. It’s a ways off third now, but our crypto experts would not be surprised if Binance Coin regained its bronze medal spot in the next couple of years.
How to Buy and Store Binance Coin
Getting your hands on Binance Coin is as easy as buying any other of the best cryptocurrencies on the market. If you’re not familiar with buying crypto, read our step-by-step guide below on how to buy Binance Coin.
- Open an account with a cryptocurrency exchange platform, like Binance. The exchange will most likely have a crypto wallet for you to use. If you are comfortable using that wallet, you can skip to Step 3.
- Obtain a crypto wallet so you can store the Binance Coin and other coins you buy.
- Verify your identity with your cryptocurrency exchange platform. Doing this will give you access to all your exchange’s best features, which is necessary to be a smart crypto investor.
- Deposit money into your crypto exchange account.
- Purchase Binance Coin.
- If you are okay using your crypto exchange platform wallet, you’re done. If you chose to use an external, third-party wallet, you need to send your Binance Coin to that wallet.
Those six steps, or four, depending on the method you used, are all you need to do to buy and store Binance Coin. If you ever feel like selling Binance Coin, you just need to do the process in reverse. Send your Binance Coin to your crypto exchange, sell it on the market, and withdraw your fiat currency.
The Future of Binance Coin
Just a few months ago, many people predicted both Binance and Binance Coin would not be around for much longer. In case you weren’t paying attention then, those times were the peak of the most recent crypto crash. Sam Bankman-Fried and his crypto exchange FTX were under fire from the federal government, and, as we discussed above, Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao was also under attack. As a part of the investigation into Zhao, Binance was fined over $4 billion.
There were, and still are, loads of fears about whether Binance, and Binance Coin by association, would survive that crash and the major fine. So far, Binance has survived those things and every other challenge thrown at it. This has led some people to say comparing Binance to FTX is like comparing apples to oranges. We agree somewhat, but we also would recommend caution until you’re sure the fallout of the Zhao case is over.
Risks and Challenges
Investing in crypto is always a risky venture. The industry is largely unregulated and very decentralized. Additionally, each coin has its own risks and challenges associated with it. The risks of investing in Binance Coin have been discussed all throughout this comprehensive Binance Coin guide, but it’s worth explaining again here clearly.
Simply put, some industry experts have predicted that Binance will be the next major crypto exchange to go under. This means bad news for Binance Coin. With that being said, the fact Binance has survived so far has many other experts saying that it’s actually one of the more solid exchanges.
With such uncertainty out there about Binance and Binance Coin, it’s going to take a long time for Binance Coin to ever reach the levels of a coin like Bitcoin or the other coins ahead of it on the market cap list.
Regulatory and Legal Aspects of Binance Coin
Because there are so few laws on the books governing cryptocurrency, every coin is at risk of being devalued by sudden regulatory changes. This is especially the case with Binance Coin.
Binance Coin is already on the US government’s radar thanks to the recklessness of Binance’s founder and former CEO, Changpeng Zhao. While Binance is still legal in the US, the company was fined $4 billion by the federal government. If there are any more major changes to the US government policy regarding crypto or any other financial investigations into crypto, there’s a strong chance Binance will be affected.
Community and Ecosystem
Binance Coin has always been a coin used by the real crypto diehards. The coin and its associated crypto exchange, Binance, were founded by crypto enthusiasts from the ground up back in 2017. An initial coin offering of just $15 million laid the groundwork for what would go on to become the biggest crypto exchange in the world.
As more and more people made money buying Binance Coin, more and more casual crypto fans bought in. Despite this, Binance Coin is still far more popular with hardcore crypto investors than casuals. We don’t see this changing any time soon, especially with all the negative press around Binance in recent months.
Comparing Binance Coin to Other Cryptocurrencies
When you look at just market cap, Binance Coin is definitely one of the major cryptocurrencies in the world. Binance Coin’s $47.6 billion market cap is only bettered by Bitcoin ($836.2 billion), Ethereum ($304.6 billion), and Tether ($94.9 billion).
While Binance Coin is popular according to market cap, its reputation has cratered recently. Most crypto investors would view Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stable coins like Tether and USD Coin as safer investments than Binance Coin right now.
FAQs
This guide has covered the basics of Binance Coin, such as the current Binance Coin price, its history, and some of the concerns about this coin’s future. To sum up what we’ve covered, here are some of the frequently asked questions about Binance Coin.
How much is 1 Binance Coin to buy?
At time of writing, Binance Coin is trading for $314.34 per coin.
Is Binance Coin actually safe?
Relatively speaking, yes. Binance Coin is one of the biggest, and therefore most stable, cryptocurrencies on the market. With that being said, no cryptocurrency is a 100% safe investment, and, the charges against Binance former CEO and the huge fine levelled against the company makes Binance Coin less safe than other top coins, like Bitcoin.
What is BNB?
BNB is the trade symbol for Binance Coin. If you see someone in the crypto world talking about BNB, they are talking about Binance Coin.
Where can I buy Binance Coin?
Despite the name, you can buy Binance Coin at crypto exchanges besides Binance. Binance Coin is available on all the best cryptocurrency exchange platforms.